The present invention relates to a hollow rectangular sporting pipe having a rectangular cross-section, for sports, especially use in a shaft of an athletic stick used in a game, e.g., an ice hockey, a field hockey, or a cricket.
Hitherto, hollow rectangular sporting pipes of various forms have been known, each of which has a rectangular cross-section (see, e.g., JP-A-6-198010, JP-A-03-234614). Such rectangular sporting pipes are used in various industrial fields, and widely utilized in, e.g., shafts of athletic sticks to be used in games.
The above athletic stick has a shaft to be gripped and held by a user, and a blade for hitting a ball or a puck, which is mounted at a leading end of the shaft integrally therewith and detachably therefrom. It is known that the weight of the shaft of such an athletic stick can be reduced using, e.g., a composite material such as a fiber-reinforced plastic.
As disclosed in the above documents, the rotating-torque acting on the shaft at the ball hitting by the blade portion can be suppressed by cross-sectionally rectangularly shaping the shaft, as compared with the case of cross-sectionally circularly or elliptically shaping the shaft. However, in order to more improve the directionality of a hit ball and to perform fast ball-hitting (or take a fast shot), it is preferable that the athletic stick is configured to suppress the torque acting on the shaft thereof.